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Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, IL has already demonstrated his ability to stand tall against hostile advocates of gay marriage.

Maybe it’s a certain toughness bred from his experience as a hockey goalie. More likely it’s a rock-solid commitment, born out of love for Christ and his Church, to defend the souls he is charged with from the subtle but relentless onslaught of sin and ignorance that Satan unleashes through the culture of death.

It’s what they used to call apostolic zeal, and Bishop Paprocki has it in spades.

So when a group of Catholics who support the legalization of gay marriage in Illinois announced plans to gather at Springfield’s cathedral of the Immaculate Conception to recite the Rosary for the cause of same-sex marriage, Bishop Paprocki obliged them with a simple, clear response:

Not on my watch.

As reported at Catholic Culture, the bishop made it clear that anyone attempting to enter the cathedral wearing the “rainbow sash” would be denied entrance, and anyone praying out loud for same-sex marriage would be asked to leave.

“It is blasphemy to show disrespect or irreverence to God or to something holy…Since Jesus clearly taught that marriage as created by God is a sacred institution between a man and a woman (see Matthew 19:4-6 and Mark 10:6-9), praying for same-sex marriage should be seen as blasphemous and as such will not be permitted in the cathedral.”

There are a good number of other bishops who I am sure would have said the same thing. But a good number can always be a better number, and we can never have too many shepherds like this.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Lord, send us more bishops like Bishop Paprocki.

Barbara ~ Sometimes it’s “hate the sin, but love the sinner … as little and as distantly as possible.” (see Milinda Semys’ writings) and “get so excited about the sin that sin and sinner merge together in your thoughts words and deeds.” This is why Pope Francis wants to de-empacise the issue. Pax, Greg

Greg, you are correct that those responses would be inappropriate. However, when those with whom we dialogue insist that act and person – sin and sinner – are one in the same and that to hate one is to hate the other (which is, as I have said elsewhere, diametrically contrary to the basics of Christianity), Catholics without the skills to make distinctions naturally and understandably have difficulty in intellectually and interpersonally living their faith and its principles. The other side of same-gender marriage debate is all-to-quick to say that opposing them automatically equals hate, end of story, which is logically and intellectually bankrupt, but sure is effective for them.

I do not support Pope Francis’s statement on that issue, not because I believe Catholics must man the barricades against same-gender marriage so much as because of the confusion within the Church. Too many in the Church have baptized same-gender acting out in their minds and hearts, and that’s a soul-killer. A shepherd that won’t speak up and give guidance in this matter is an objectively bad shepherd.

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